Horseshoe



(No Model.)

D. R. PORTER.

HORSESHOB. No. 308,926. Patented Dec. 9, 1884.

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DANIEL R. PORTER, OF REVERE, MASSACHUSETTS.

HCRSESHOE.

SPECIFICATIQN forming part of Letters Patent No. 308,926, dated December 9, 1884.

Application filed March 29, 1884. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

.Be it known that I, DANIEL B. PORTER, of Revere, county of Suffolk, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Horseshoes, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is aspecifioation, like letters on the drawings representing like parts.

That part of a horses foot called the frog is very elastic, and when the foot is in its natural or unshod state the frog comes directly against the ground, the whole weight of the horse thus coming upon the same when walking or running. The frog, subjected to such pressure, is expanded, and expands the hoof at its heel, or works the foot, thus keeping the same in healthy condition, and es pecially avoiding contraction of the heel ,which produces lameness. When a metal shoe is nailed upon the foot, and the roads are good or s1nooth,the frog seldom touches the ground, and consequently it does not receive the blow caused by the horse striking his foot against the ground, as was intended, and the frog, not being worked, fails to keep inoproper healthy condition, and fails to act to expand the heel of the constantly-growing foot. To obviate this contraction of the heel, and work the frog as intended by nature, I have provided the heel of the shoe with a frog-worker, the same being shown as a metal bar loosely connected with the shoe, located between it and the foot at its heel, extended across the frog and rising and falling with relation to the heel of the shoe at each step, the movement of the frogworker being away from the shoe when the shoe strikes the ground, wedge-shaped projections on the frog-worker then acting in the spaces between the sides of the frog and the inner wall of the hoof, exerting such strain or pressure on the foot as will tend to expand it at the heel.

Figure 1 in perspective represents the up per side of a horseshoe with a frog-worker placed thereon. Fig. 2shows the frog-worker removed. Fig. 3 is an end view of Fig. 1, looking in the direction of the arrow thereon.

The shoe S, of usual shape and material, is provided at its heel with holes h, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3, to receive the studs b,

attached to the under side of the wedge'shaped ends 10 of the frog-worker F, the main body of which fits into the space between the ends of the shoe at theheel, as shown in Figs. land 3, the outer face, 2, of the frog-worker coming substantially level with the outer face of the shoe at the heel, but the inner side, 3, of the frog-worker will preferably be made, as shown, to fall in a plane lower than that of the upper side of the shoe at the heel. The frog-worker is laid upon the foot against the frog, with the wedge-shaped projections to in the spaces at the side of the frog and between it and the inner side of the wall of the hoof, the said space being slightly cleaned out, and then the shoe is laid upon the foot, the holes h receiving the studs 1), and the shoe is nailed in place as usual. When the horse puts his foot upon the ground, the frog-worker also strikes the ground, and as the weight of the horse settles on the foot the frog-worker is moved away from the shoe, the studs 1) sliding in the holes h, such movement of the frogworker causing the frog to be pressed as in walking, and en abling the wedge projections w, as they enter the said spaces, the frog then yielding, to exert such strain or pressure on the foot as will tend to cause the same to expand at the heel, or to obviate heel contraction and keeping the foot in healthy condition.

I am aware that the heels of horseshoes have been provided with cross-bars to connect them positively together.

I claim- 1. A horseshoe combined with an independently-movable frog-worker applied tothe heel of the shoe, to operate substantially as described.

2. The shoe provided at its heel with holes h, combined with the frog worker having studs 1), and provided with projections w to enter the spaces between the sides of the frog and the inner wall of the foot, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof Ihave signed my name 5 DANIEL R. PORTER.

Witnesses: I

G. W. GREGORY, B. J. Novas. 

